Separated

Chapter 35: The Deepcore

After a quick walk through the Hall of the Hammers, Honeydew led KP down the steps and over to the entrance of The Deepcore. The two stood in silence for a moment, peering down into the pit of lava just over the edge before Peculier looked to the keyhole in the wall next to him.

"This is where the key goes, right?" He asked, scratching his head. Honeydew nodded as he pulled out the key.

"Yup. I just hope this actually works..."

The tall dwarf slid the golden key into its slot and turned it with little effort. A loud ker-chunk! followed soon after, and the two turned to see stone steps slide into place, leading down to a lower platform on the other side of the pit. The grinding of stone pushing past itself subsided after a few seconds, and another loud thump echoed from behind the walls. The stone stairs grew still, allowing safe passage now. Honeydew and KP shared a look before cautiously venturing down into the abyss.

Once having safely set foot on the other side of the churning mess of molten rock below, the two looked around the small rectangular space. An old oak wood door was on the wall opposite of them, having apparently been placed there once the path loosely carved out behind it was completed. The wood was in bad condition due to age. Chips and pieces had fallen out or had rotted away, so what was left could barely be called a door. To the duo's left was a lineup of iron pickaxes, the metal almost entirely rusted, with old mining helms resting on a shelf above them. Strapped onto the protective headgear were headlamps, the glass fogged up from oxidation and far from working condition. Next to the old door was a sign:

- NOTICE -

Pickaxes are mandatory, headgear optional.

"Well, Spacker sure was right about this place not being used for years." KP noted. He grabbed one of the better-condition helmets and placed it on his head. Honeydew, already having what he needed, turned towards the old oak door and lightly pushed it open. He was surprised it didn't crumple to dust the moment his gloved hand touched it. The two stepped inside, and a few electric lamps struggled to come alive to greet them as they entered. The light was dim and flickering in some parts, but it was enough to light up the immediate area. The quarry they had entered was vaguely square shaped. In the back-left "corner" of the dug-out hole was a slope that lead further down into the mine, where the light of the lamps failed to reach. Along the stone at their feet were old mine cart tracks, and like the rest of The Deepcore, they were far from working condition. A few wooden pillars were strewn around parts of the area for a meager attempt at support.

"It appears to get dark up ahead. The lights must have died out further in the mine." KP said suddenly, gesturing down towards the slope in the back of the room. "We'll have to use our torches sparingly from now on."

"Right." Honeydew gave a nod of agreement. He was about to continue forward when he noticed something he hadn't before. In the left corner closest to the door, a pile of rubble sat partially on top of an old chest. Feeling his dwarven curiosity start to take over, the ginger-bearded dwarf unstrapped his diamond pick from his belt and walked over, mining the dirt, gravel, and stone away until the chest was fully revealed. In fact, another chest had been covered up completely as well, only doubling the amount of loot he could find. Honeydew put his tool down and rubbed his hands together excitedly, Peculier also walking over to see what he was doing.

"C'mon, show me some treasure!" He spoke to himself. The Dwarf's gloved hands fell upon the ancient lid before he eased it open. Honeydew's look of excitement soon changed to one of panic, however, when he saw a large, hairy, and pill-shaped bug look up at him from inside. Beside it sat a silk cocoon of some sorts, and the Dwarf quickly pieced together that it was a nest. The bug gave a low hiss and began to shake its body rapidly, the hairs brushing up against one another sounding almost like static. Before either Honeydew or KP could react, the nest burst open, and waves and waves of the bugs came cascading out towards them. Both men (heroically) screamed and ran back out the door.

"Blasted Silverfish!" Knight_Peculier shouted, looking back as the two ran back up the stairs. The horde of Silverfish were following close behind. "Why couldn't you just leave the chests be?!"

"I'm a dwarf! It's what we do!" Honeydew yelled back. The two reached the summit of the stone steps and looked back to see that the swarm was still perusing, the individuals moving fluently as one big consciousness. Honeydew couldn't recall if Silverfish liked the taste of flesh, but he could tell that these pests were hungry just by the look in their eyes. Acting purely on instinct, Honeydew flew over to the key that kept the stairs in place and yanked it out of its place. The sounds of machinery started up behind the walls again, and the stairs to The Deepcore quickly retreated back into the wall. The Silverfish let out a shriek-like hiss as they plummeted to their doom. The small pill-shaped bodies were set aflame before they disintegrated, and the ashes mixed in with the bubbling rock below. The two took a minute to catch their breath before Honeydew replaced the key, and the stairway became available again.

"I hate those little devils." The Dwarf muttered. He tucked his hands casually into his pockets and continued back down the stairs. He glanced back to KP. "C'mon, let's see what those things were 'guarding'."

The knight nodded and followed his companion back into The Deepcore. Everything was as they left it. Honeydew picked up his pickaxe and strapped it back to his belt before he started shifting through the chests.

"Junk...junk...more junk...ooh diamonds!" He reached into the chest and pulled out a handful of the blue gemstones, the shiny surfaces reflecting the light in the room. He counted about ten in total before tucking them away into his small bag of valuables on his belt. KP shrugged, arms crossed over his chest as he waited for the Dwarf to finish up his looting.

"I don't really see how those will help, but at least this wasn't a total waste." He remarked. Honeydew stood and shut the two chests before turning towards the slope that led further into the mine. He dug into his bag and pulled out a torch, quickly lighting it by dragging the head against the wall. More of the slope was revealed to them as the light grew close to it. The tunnel began to grow snakelike as they continued downwards, having many twists and turns, ups and downs as the old mine cart railing led them through the underground labyrinth. After a few minutes of passing nothing but stone, trickles of water seeping from cracks, and depleted ore veins, Honeydew was surprised to see a wooden platform with a dynamite detonator and a fuse that led up to a collapsed portion of the cavern.

"What's this doing down here?" KP asked as he came up from behind. He scratched his cranium under his headgear in thought again. "Were they planning on blowing the wall up before the mine shut down? I wonder if it still works..."

"Well, there's only one way to find out." Honeydew replied. With that, the Dwarf sauntered over to the detonator and pushed the trigger down like a bicycle pump. A hissing sound suddenly greeted their ears as a spark of light came alive at the base of the detonator, which quickly made its way to the other end of the fuse. Honeydew barely had time to leap out of the way before the dynamite at the other end of the fuse went off, creating a flash of light and sent rubble everywhere. The flash quickly dismissed itself, and the two were left alone with only the torchlight again. Honeydew stood up and brushed himself off, careful not to burn himself or catch his beard on fire with the torch as he did.

"Well, it definitely worked all right."

"Honeydew, look!"

"Hmm?"

The Dwarf brought his attention up to see a blue sparkle dancing in the dim lighting up ahead. The two adventurers shared another look before they grew closer. More of these blue sparkles came into view, slowly lighting up the new room as they approached, dancing with the swaying flame of the torch. The duo were soon surrounded by a whole glow of blue. Diamonds surrounded them, a rich vein along every wall, and their reflection of the torchlight was enough to illuminate the room with an eerie bluish-grey. Large grins grew on both of the heroes' faces.

"My Notch! I've never seen such a diamond mine in all my life!" Honeydew exclaimed in disbelief. "And that's saying something!"

"It still begs the question, though; why would the dwarves of Stoneholm abandon such a rich place?" Peculier's smile had quickly faded to a thoughtful stare as he began to examine the veins decorating the plain stone walls. Each gemstone was like a trophy head in a hunter's gallery.

"Wait a minute...I have an idea!" Honeydew then unstrapped his pickaxe from his belt again, quickly staking the torch into the ground before he startled mining up the closest ore vein. Pecuiler raised a brow as he watched the blue rocks tumble down and clink against the floor.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm makin' us some armor!"

"Armor?! here?! We don't have any tools!" The knight exclaimed. Honeydew looked over and gave a smirk.

"Never doubt a dwarf's abilities, mate. I'll get it done." He replied. The next few minutes consisted of the sound of diamond striking diamond, followed by the clink of the gemstones hitting the rock below them. These sounds repeated over and over until each ore vein was depleted, and a pile of diamonds now sat at the center of the space. KP leaned back against the wall, occasionally fiddling with his broken headlamp as Honeydew began his work. After grabbing a splinter of wood from a support that no longer had a use, the tall dwarf began flattening out the gemstones with a makeshift stone hammer before he used the heat of the torch to weld bits and pieces together. After a long while, Honeydew had pieced together two diamond chestplates, one for each of them, and some diamond leggings for Peculier. He used the remainder of the diamonds to fix up his pickaxe, which had become a little worn after so much use.

"There we go! Here, catch." Honeydew casually tossed KP his chestplate and leggings before slipping on his own armor. The knight grunted and nearly fell to the floor as he wrapped his arms around them. "It's a little crude, but it should still be able protect you."

"Thanks, hero..." Knight_Peculier grunted again as he pulled on his heavy diamond armor. The gemstones had lost their shine after going through Honeydew's makeshift smithing, so the two were left with only the torchlight again. Seeing that the torch they had now was about to go out, the Dwarf discarded it and pulled out another one. With the guiding light renewed, the two continued further into the mine. Not only had the dynamite blast cleared the way to the diamond vein, but it also opened up a narrow tunnel that led even further down.

"By my estimates, we should be nearing bedrock by now." KP said as his eyes explored the wet stone walls, another trickle of water spilling in from above. Honeydew nodded in agreement as they rounded a corner.

"Yeah. Isn't bedrock what they were trying to gather down her- Wait, what's all this?"

Both adventurers turned to see a large carvern open up before them. The almost-perfect cylindrical shape of the space was far from natural, and the mud underneath their boots was flattened in some places. The unnatural grooves along the wet ground resembled tire tracks. Peculier gave a hum of thought as he moved forward again.

"Strange. I wonder how this came to be..."

"You don't have to wonder for long, mate. Look." Honeydew pointed ahead as the torchlight washed over a lumbering shape at the end of the circular cave. Up ahead was something gigantic, barely fitting the confines of the earth around it. The beast's metallic grey skin was decorated with rust and rivets, and its feet, giant treads thick with dried mud, rested at its side. Two exhaust pipes sprouted from its back, beginning to roll up like the curved horns of a ram. The two stopped and stared up at the unnatural creature in awe.

"Wow. That's...pretty big." Honeydew commented.

"This must be the machine Spacker spoke of." KP replied as he continued forward again. "It could bore through bedrock with little hassle."

"No, seriously. That's like...really fucking big."

The two pressed forward, climbing over the piles of dirt and rubble the great beast left behind, and headed around to get a look at its front. A large drill, rusted and dirty from years of disuse, sat where the head would be. To the right of the metallic monster was a small alcove, seemingly dug out by hand. In the floor of said alcove was a large hole, and a ladder led down into it before another tunnel led somewhere out of sight. The two adventurers noticed this and walked over.

"I believe this is the entrance to the actual Deepcore." KP said as he peered down into the hole. Honeydew simply shrugged before he waltzed over to the ladder and began to descend.

"Well, there's only one way to find out." The Dwarf replied. The two then climbed down and continued down the next tunnel, where another carvern opened up before them. The wall of darkness ahead blocked their sight of the opposite walls, so they couldn't tell how big the cave actually was, but needless to say it was pretty massive. The walls and floor they could see appeared to made entirely out of sheets of metal, more rivets interlocking pieces in a crisscross of refined steel. Down a small slope was a single electrical light, just bright enough to reveal a wall with barb wire lining the top, a panel of some sorts, and a lone chest. Honeydew and KP quickly discarded the dying torch and advanced towards the area below. The wall currently kept them from venturing forward into the mysterious blackness ahead.

"So this is The Deepcore..." Honeydew commented, looking around the empty space. "To be honest, not as amazing as I thought it would be."

"Spacker told me this place was abandoned as soon as The Wall went up. I wonder why." KP then turned to examine the control panel while Honeydew took a peek inside the chest. Sitting alone in the wooden box was a single piece of bedrock, perfectly carved into a large cube.

"My gods, they actually did it." Honeydew breathed. "They mined the rock that could not be mined."

"I see there's a button here. Should we see what it does?" KP asked, interrupting the Dwarf's train of thought. Honeydew looked over to see the knight examining a large blue circle at the center of the panel. Again, the Dwarf shrugged, and Peculier then raised a hand and pressed it down. The whirling of gears and other machinery suddenly started to echo around them as part of the wall lowered into the metallic floor beneath their feet, allowing them access into the black unknown. Once the wall had finished its decent, it suddenly became brighter a little ways up ahead. A neon-blue rod began to rise up from the ground, its haunting glow resembling a bug zapper, as it began to light up the space surrounding it. The machinery continued to buzz, clank and whirl as a similar blue glow became visible even further into the darkness. KP reached for his family sword on his hip before pressing forward, entering a brisk jog as he called back to Honeydew behind him.

"Quickly, follow the beacons!" He cried. The Dwarf nodded again as he unstrapped his pick from his belt and charged after the knight, more and more blue beacons rising up to guide them through the dark. Hearing a series of footsteps suddenly fall in behind him, Honeydew looked back over his shoulders. Bathed in the blue light of the beacons was a horde of monsters. A mix of creepers, skeletons, zombies, and a few giant spiders were quickly beginning to match Honeydew's pace. The ginger-bearded dwarf's eyes widened and increased his speed.

"KP, we have a bit of a problem!" he called forward. He heard the knight begin to answer him up ahead before he cried out, and Honeydew heard the sound of weapon striking bone as something crumpled into a pile.

"Hurry hero!" Peculier shouted back. The Dwarf briefly saw him pass through the next beacon's light before he vanished into the blackness again. Honeydew continued to follow, his head becoming filled with the noise of zombie moans, spiders hissing, and the clink clink clink of a skeletal archer's bones colliding as it walked. All the sounds seemed to melt together into one big mess of static. Honeydew was taken by surprise when a he ran smack-dab into a creeper, and the creature exploded before he could even begin to react. He was sent flying backwards, his diamond chestplate having taken the bulk of the explosion, but that didn't stop his ears from ringing.

With a disgruntled moan and a shake of his head, Honeydew snapped out of his daze and quickly sprung to his feet. Feeling and hearing arrows just barely miss him, he pressed forward again until one arrow was lucky enough to strike him in the back of his left shoulder. Again, the Dwarf stumbled, the armor once again taking the hit for him. Still, the arrow had enough velocity to pierce the strong albeit crude chestplate and dig into his skin slightly. Honeydew pushed through the pain and continued to charge forward, blindly following the glowing blue beacons in hopes it would lead him to safety. He nearly ran into Peculier some time later, the knight appearing to be staring upwards in a state of shock.

"What are you doing, man? They're right behind us!" Honeydew cried in confusion. KP raised a shaking arm and pointed forward, his look of shock never once leaving his face. Following his finger, Honeydew then noticed a gargantuan pair of legs directly ahead of them, just barely made visible by a beacon's light. The Dwarf felt his jaw drop as he looked upwards as well. Before them was a mythical Giant, a rare and devastating form of zombie that had mutated to abnormal size. Just by the scale of the legs alone, this thing appeared to be three times as big as the bedrock drill in the last cavern!

Snapping out of his own shock, Honeydew grabbed Peculier by the arm and broke off into a sprint, dragging the knight behind him. A few more arrows whizzed by their heads as a guttural roar echoed and shook the very foundations of the gaping cavern surrounding them. The Giant had noticed them. The ground shook with its footsteps as Honeydew saw the way out just a little more ways up ahead; a small crack in the wall, just barely big enough to squeeze through. As soon as they drew close, they dove for the opening and wriggled their way through. The Giant bellowed again, its massive palm sweeping down to crush the two and barely missing. Unable to stop its momentum, the Giant crashed into the wall and caused the whole place to shake again. The two heard something give way before a wave of rocks came and blocked off the crack they had just passed through. The world grew quiet and dark around them again.

"That...was terrifying." Honeydew said as he caught his breath. He heard Peculier cough and stand up to his left, the dust from the cave-in apparently irritating his lungs.

"I personally hope I never encounter one of those...those things again." He muttered. The Dwarf heard him take a few steps before he stopped. "Hold on, are those torches up ahead?"

Honeydew turned to see that KP was right; further down the tunnel was the light of dancing flames, and in said light was a wall made purely out of sandstone. Similar symbols were carved into the ancient stone to those Honeydew and Xephos had found at the buried building in the desert near Barbeque Bay.

"Sandstone? All the way down here?" Getting up, Honeydew followed the sound of Peculier's footsteps until they could see each other in the torchlight again. Built into the sandstone wall was an old slab that served as a door, which the two's efforts combined easily pushed aside. Inside the mysterious ruin was far from anything they expected to see. The room's setup resembled that of a modern subway. Below the risen platform the two were currently standing on, a set of mine carts waited patiently to be put into use, both they and the tracks they resided on seeming to be untouched by time. On the wall behind them was a series of color-coded rail-lines that overlapped and interconnected with each other. Again, the picture seemed to be fairly new.

"What on Minecraftia...?" Peculier breathed. Honeydew immediately walked over to the mine carts and began to climb inside, catching the knight's full attention. "What are you doing?"

"Preparing to catch a ride, what else? The way we came is sealed up - not that I wanted to go back there in the first place - and these mine carts seem to be the only way out."

"I suppose you have a point..." KP mumbled uncertainly, and he reluctantly stepped into the mine cart in front of Honeydew's. Meanwhile the Dwarf got comfortable in his own before looking around.

"Okay, now how do we make it go-whoa!" Almost on command, the mine carts lurched forward and turned onto a track leading to their right. They moved slowly at first, painstakingly moving inch by inch, before the wheels of the carts passed over a slightly-different track, this one tinted red. Suddenly and without warning, the mine carts shot forward, quadrupling in speed instantly. The sudden jolt was enough to cause both men to cry out in surprise. The next few minutes were like a wild rollercoaster. The mine carts tilted this way and that with each sharp turn, threatening to fall onto its side every time. One time it even looked like the two would be sent into a flow of lava before the carts lurched to the left and began climbing up a steep slope, more of the strange red rails aiding in their ascent. Both Honeydew and Peculier yelled again as their carts were sent flying off the tracks and sailed over a gigantic lake of lava, the tracks having sank into the molten material some time before. Luckily, Notch was smiling upon them, and they miraculously landed on the other end of the tracks and continued on their way.

Honeydew suddenly found himself blinded when sunlight greeted his eyes. The mine carts had carried them all the way back to the surface, but the Dwarf had no time to take in the scenery before their mine carts turned and entered another tunnel. Honeydew was nearly blinded again as they emerged on the other end, and looking up, he saw something awe-inspiring. A massive spire shot out from the ground just ahead of them, and a double helix of an unknown material wrapped around itself. Within the tight center of the helix were floating streams of both water and lava, both materials dancing around each other in the absence of gravity around them. Honeydew was so busy staring up at the strange construct that he didn't expect the tracks to suddenly come to their end. His cart struck the back of Peculier's, and the Dwarf was thrown forward, only to land on KP who had also been thrown from his seat. Honeydew moaned and rolled off of the knight as Peculier gagged and reached for his mouth, turning a slight shade of green.

"I think I'm going to be sick..."

Suddenly, a deep laugh pierced the air, and both heroes looked up to see Finbar standing at the top of the spire. He shot the two a mocking grin before he raised his hand, and fire enveloped his palm again. Honeydew and Peculier barely had time to dive out of the way before a rain of fireballs was sent down on top of them. Finbar raised his hand again as he watched Honeydew's beard catch fire below, already preparing another wave to send the two who opposed him into oblivion.

Author's Note: I have no excuse for this being so late. For that I am sorry. PWEASE FORGIVE MEEEEEEEEEEE.

-DR